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Lawrence Furr, Kurt Glendenning, Sandra Martin Clark, Robert Maynard, Deborah Mulligan Antonelli, Earl Oakley, Harold Smith, Jerry Winterton
Lawrence "Footsie" Furr (Class of '41?): Last season, Cary High won its third state basketball championship. The championship came 41 years after the school's second and 56 years since the first.
Lawrence Furr, better known as "Footsie", has been around for all three and a couple of others that many might not remember.
Furr was a member of the 1939 state championships team as a Cary High sophomore. The Imps defeated Mount Airy 20-17 for the title.
But Furr was also a member of Imp teams that reached the Class B finals the next two seasons.
In 1940, the Imps lost to a dominating Walnut Grove team, losing 45-22. The next season, Cary lost by three to Hanes 27-24.
Furr later became an active member of the Swift Creek community, a Wake County representative of N.C. State's Wolfpack Club and the Raleigh Sports Club treasurer.
Kurt Glendenning (Class of '80): Kurt Glendenning is probably best known as Cary High's head athletic trainer.
But walks the halls of Cary High these days and students are likely to call out "Hey, Coach G" at any moment he is within ear shot. Walk by any of the school's athletic facilities and more than likely Glendenning's had a hand in getting them ready for game time.
Glendenning, a graduate of Cary in 1980, is considered one of the school's most popular and tireless faculty members.
"Sometimes you would think he is covering two or three events at one time," said long-time Imp Club member Lynda House.
Glendenning, though, was himself a three sport standout - football, diving and baseball during his days at Cary. He went on to play a year of baseball at UNC Wilmington and was later an assistant for Georgia Southern's two Division I-AA championship football team.
Deborah Mulligan-Antonelli (Class of '82): To understand the type of basketball player Debbie Mulligan-Antonelli was during her days at Cary High and later N.C. State, you need only look at the month of March.
For six straight years, Mulligan-Antonelli played in post-season tournaments - two appearances with the Imps, four with the Wolfpack. In short, she knew how to win.
"She was always focused on the task at hand and we could always count on her at crunch time," said Carolyn Shannonhouse, who coached Mulligan-Antonelli at Cary when the Imps made consecutive Final Four appearances in 1981-82.
Mulligan-Antonelli was the Imps' first representative in the East-West All-Star game and went on to become a three year starter for the Wolfpack. Her senior season, she was awarded the coveted Alumni Trophy for best athlete.
She also played volleyball and softball for the Imps.
Sandra Martin Clark (Class of '81): Clark might be best remembered for leading Cary High to the NCHSAA 4A Basketball championship in 1981, but many may have forgotten her track accomplishments.
"I was probably a more talented runner than basketball player," she said.
In 1981. she set four Cary records and was an all-state cross country runner. During her senior year, Martin Clark competed in three separate NCHSAA Championships - cross country, track and basketball.
At the collegiate level, Martin Clark was no less active. She was a three-year basketball starter for Campbell, while being named an all-region Division II cross country member and setting three school track records.
"Only [a person] with Sandy's dedication and determination could accomplish such a feat," said Martin Clark's former Cary High basketball coach, Carolyn Shannonhouse.
Robert Maynard: When Robert Maynard left Cary High, he left Cary behind him.
"I just lost track with what the school's teams were doing" said Maynard, who attended East Carolina and later became vice president and general manager for John Deere Co. in Atlanta, GA.
But Friday, Maynard returned home to Cary in more than one sense. Maynard, who recently retired from John Deere, is in the process of relocating. And his unofficial welcome home included induction to Cary High's athletic Hall of Fame.
"It's such a great honor for me," he said. "To be inducted with my teammates from that time in life just means so much.
"I may have not kept in touch, but I have fond memories of those times."
Maynard was arguably one of Cary's finest football players and was the first Imp to participate in the East-West All-Star game.
Earl Oakley (Class of '): Earl Oakley became the Cary High athletic Hall of Fame's first member to be selected posthumously.
But Oakley did not go in alone and is already joined by a couple of former Imp teammates.
Oakley was inducted with Footsie Furr, a teammate of his on Cary's 1939 state championship team that also featured Doug Holleman, who was inducted last year.
Oakley played basketball at Cary during what can be considered the school's first great era.
While many followers of Cary High remember the school's first state basketball title in 1939 and the powerhouse days of the mid-1950s, Oakley was there for the true beginning - 1935.
That year, Cary made its first trip to the state championship only to lose 27-26 to Dobson High. Four years later, Oakley helped lead the Imps back in the final as Cary defeated Mount Airy 20-17.
The next season, Oakley again led the Imps back to the final, only to lose 45-22 to Walnut Grove High.
Oakley later was an active member of the Cary community.
Harold Smith (Class of '55): Harold Smith marvels at the people he played with during his day at Cary High in the 1950s.
"I mean there was Charlie Adams, Guy [Mendenhall], Robert Maynard... I mean there were some truly great athletes when I was there," he said.
Including Smith, who was a three-sport standout for the Imps before graduating in 1955.
I'm not so sure I'm worthy of being inducted, but I must say it's a special honor," a humble Smith said.
But Smith's numbers alone are worthy of inclusion as one of Cary's great athletes.
In baseball, he was a four-year starter and hit .356 as a senior. In football, he was a three-year starter on teams that went 29-1. And the only year he played basketball, the Imps won the state championship (1954).
Smith later was a standout at Chowan Junior College.
Gerald "Jerry" Winterton (Coach): Jerry Winterton knew early on as a child what was destined for him in life.
"This sounds corny, but when I was in the third grade I remember walking into a gym for the first time. And it was the neatest thing for me," he said. "It's stuck with me ever since."
Winterton admits he was a gym rat during his early days. And he remains a gym rat, even today as architect of Cary High's nationally prominent wrestling program. Arriving in Cary in 1981, Winterton needed just six years before the Imps won their first state title. A year later, Cary won its second under Winterton and a year after that a third.
"I never imagined that the program would reach such a high level of consistency," he said.
The common denominator has been Winterton, whose teams have been tanked among the nation's top 25 on five separate occasions.
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